Buddy is making a lot of new friends at the box office.

2026's Buddy is a new horror-comedy directed by Casper Kelly (Too Many Cooks) that follows kids trapped on the set of a 1999 children's program that is hosted by a twisted, Barney-esque orange unicorn. The movie boasts a star-studded ensemble cast that includes Cristin Milioti (The Penguin), Topher Grace (That '70s Show), Clint Howard (Terrifier 3), and the voices of Keegan-Michael Key (The Super Mario Bros. Movies), Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille), Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water), and Eric Bauza (Coyote vs. Acme). After its premiere at Sundance in January, it debuted in theaters on August 28.

Screen Rant
Interactive Quiz
Screen Rant/ Movies/ Horror/ Quiz
The Ultimate · Horror Quote Challenge Name That Horror Movie “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.”
☠1960s
🔪1970s
👻1980s
💀1990s
🎭2000s
QUESTION 1 / 81990s PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR
01
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“I am your number one fan.”
✓ Correct! Annie Wilkes’s obsessive declaration to author Paul Sheldon in Misery — Kathy Bates won the Oscar for this role.
✗ Not quite — it’s Misery (1990). Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes delivers this line before things get very, very painful for her favorite author.
QUESTION 2 / 81960s PROTO-SLASHER
02
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“We all go a little mad sometimes.”
✓ Correct! Norman Bates’s unsettling confession in Hitchcock’s Psycho — the film that invented the slasher.
✗ Not quite — it’s Psycho (1960). Norman Bates delivers this chilling line to Marion Crane before the shower scene changes cinema forever.
QUESTION 3 / 81980s PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR
03
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“Here’s Johnny!”
✓ Correct! Jack Nicholson’s terrifying ad-lib as he axes through the bathroom door in The Shining.
✗ Not quite — it’s The Shining (1980). Nicholson improvised this line while hacking through the door — Kubrick kept the cameras rolling.
QUESTION 4 / 81970s SUPERNATURAL HORROR
04
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“They’re all gonna laugh at you!”
✓ Correct! Margaret White’s cruel warning to her daughter before prom night turns deadly in Carrie.
✗ Not quite — it’s Carrie (1976). Piper Laurie as Margaret White torments her telekinetic daughter with this prophetic warning.
QUESTION 5 / 81980s SLASHER
05
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.”
✓ Correct! The eerie children’s jump-rope rhyme that haunts the dreams of Elm Street.
✗ Not quite — it’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The nursery rhyme warning of Freddy Krueger’s arrival. All five are iconic slashers, but only one invades your dreams.
QUESTION 6 / 82000s TORTURE HORROR
06
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“I want to play a game.”
✓ Correct! Jigsaw’s signature greeting, delivered through his puppet Billy in Saw.
✗ Not quite — it’s Saw (2004). The Jigsaw Killer’s chilling invitation before his victims face impossible choices.
QUESTION 7 / 81970s SLASHER
07
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“It was the boogeyman.”
✓ Correct! Laurie Strode’s terrified whisper to Dr. Loomis after surviving Michael Myers in Halloween.
✗ Not quite — it’s Halloween (1978). Laurie Strode whispers this to Dr. Loomis, who replies: “As a matter of fact, it was.”
QUESTION 8 / 81990s HORROR THRILLER
08
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.”
✓ Correct! Buffalo Bill’s skin-crawling command to his captive in The Silence of the Lambs.
✗ Not quite — it’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Buffalo Bill delivers this disturbing line from his basement. All five films feature serial killers, but only one has this scene.
The Body Count Your Survival Score
💀
/ 8
Did you survive the horror quiz?

Roadside Attractions and Saban Films have announced that Buddy earned an estimated 3-day gross of $5.4 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend, during which it played on just 1,258 screens. The independent horror movie doubled its projections and earned nearly as much as Ridley Scott's post-apocalyptic movie The Dog Stars, which debuted in more than two and a half times as many theaters, earning $8 million on 3,330 screens. Altogether, Buddy has earned the best domestic debut of 2026 so far for a movie that debuted on 1,800 screens or fewer.

This record sees Buddy beating a number of notable titles that played in more theaters, including the Andrew Garfield fantasy movie The Magic Faraway Tree ($1.3 million in 1,611 theaters), Eli Roth's controversial horror-comedy Ice Cream Man ($2 million in 1,671 theaters), the Alan Ritchson action-thriller Motor City ($1.7 million in 1,600 theaters), the Hugh Jackman drama The Death of Robin Hood ($2.9 million in 1,762 theaters), Boots Riley's I Love Boosters ($3.8 million in 1,750 theaters), and the Renny Harlin shark movie Deep Water ($2.1 million in 1,675 theaters).

Additional records that Buddy has set include earning Saban Films' highest-grossing opening weekend in history and Roadside Attractions' second highest-grossing (behind 2018's I Can Only Imagine, which debuted with $17.1 million in 1,629 theaters). This is primarily thanks to the movie activating Gen Z audiences and young millennials, as 83% of ticket buyers are under the age of 35. Below, read a statement on these box office records from Roadside Attractions' Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff and Saban Films' Jonathan Saba and Shanan Becker:

We loved BUDDY the moment we saw the film at Sundance. We were blown away by the wildly imaginative worlds director Casper Kelly created with practical effects, and audiences are clearly responding to its authenticity and its gonzo - WTF - horror-comedy-thriller combination.

This record-breaking opening weekend sees Buddy earning a solid debut per-screen average of $4,264, which puts it just slightly below 2026's Obsession (which debuted with a per-screen average of $6,576 and eventually grossed more than half a billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing horror movie of 2026 and the 10th highest-grossing 2026 movie in general at the time of writing).

While Obsession had unprecedented audience retention that probably will not be replicated any time soon (it was the first movie since 1982's E.T. to earn more money each weekend for three consecutive weekends), Buddy has a strong chance of continuing to climb the charts. It is building strong word of mouth thanks to glowing reviews that have earned it a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 87%. Audiences are responding similarly strongly, giving it 78% on the same platform.

While the budget of Buddy has not been revealed, nor the amount that Roadside Attractions and Saban Films spent to acquire it out of Sundance, it seems highly likely that the project had a low budget and is thus set up to earn a major return on investment by the end of its theatrical run.

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buddy-poster.jpeg

Buddy
R
Horror
Comedy
Release Date
September 4, 2026
Runtime
95 minutes
Director
Casper Kelly

Cast

  • Headshot Of Cristin Milioti In The Los Angeles Premiere Screening For Peacock's Original Series 'The Resort'
    Cristin Milioti
    Grace
  • Headshot Of Delaney Quinn
    Delaney Quinn
    Freddy
  • Headshot Of Topher Grace
    Topher Grace
    Ben
  • Headshot Of Keegan-Michael Key
    Keegan-Michael Key
    Buddy the Unicorn (voice)

Writers
Casper Kelly, Jamie King
Producers
Drew Sykes, J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules, Tracy Rosenblum, Tyler Davidson